DETROIT

Corpsey

bandz ahoy

This is partly an excuse to post this tune up after I've already done a COTD, but why not pay tribute to the Motor City? A good excuse to post 🔥 tunes from across the years, and - in true Dissensus style - wax lyrical about the possible connections between the post-industrial landscape and the drum machine Theo Parrish uses. :cool:
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
It is fascinating to me that the city has produced such megastars in so many genres, arguably the most important place for techno (obviously), soul (with Motown and Aretha Franklin), but also garage rock (Stooges, ? and Mysterians) and Eminem too. That does seem way disproportionate to its size right?
 

Leo

Well-known member
It is fascinating to me that the city has produced such megastars in so many genres, arguably the most important place for techno (obviously), soul (with Motown and Aretha Franklin), but also garage rock (Stooges, ? and Mysterians) and Eminem too. That does seem way disproportionate to its size right?

never actually thought about it but yes, absolutely. even if detroit was the size of nyc, it would still be a tremendous -- probably unmatched -- level of musical achievement.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
So much great hip hop from Detroit. With Dilla setting the pace, the Detroit scene did a great job in conjoining the two tediously defined sides of the dichotomy between conscious rap and gangster rap. Probably between underground and mainstream as well, in a broader sense. Maybe you could even throw in sample-based vs. free hand, too, with the frameworks they rejected. Right now you see Danny Brown carrying the torch.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Actually all rappers associated with J Dilla were trash and that city had the worst legacy for rap until the last two years.

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entertainment

Well-known member
I swear, to me, one of them sounds like a fl studio modernization of The Bridge is Over but dispensed of the fun. You gotta explain the appeal here to me, cause I'm not picking up anything besides banal monotone battle rap.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I find all those rappers Dilla worked with a bit dull. Not 'trash' but nothing really standout about them. He's got to be one of the most iconic producers in rap to have worked with so few truly great rappers (at least in life). Madlib is another of those, though I'd say he's got less of a cult following than Dilla.

Didn't even think about Detroit's rap scene when making this thread. It seems weird actually that Detroit didn't have more of a place in rap history, given its musical pedigree, african-american population, etc.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Detroit's rap scene never took off because the midwest in general has a weird issue in falling victim to being not beholden to a broader sense of regionalism; they're not in the deep south, nor are they East Coast. You see this in Ohio groups like Dayton Family or Bone Thugs where they're a hybrid of Memphis style stuff and West Coast stuff, but obviously nobody from Memphis or California will necessarily agree with them being 'theirs' (Bone Thugs got by with Eazy adopting them and giving them a cosign obviously and by that point they really ramped up the Cali-isms).

Don't also forget that whereas the east coast, south and west coast eventually abandoned electro for rap, the midwest KEPT electro alive via acid-house, techno and whatever. That split musically doesn't happen nearly as much in LA or NYC because while dance music culture had some footholds there, the rap culture was cultivated and attracted a lot of major label attention; Motown had moved its base of operations out of Detroit before the genesis of hip-hop and with that one of the biggest black labels of america had no eyes there. You had indies certainly who were able to garner attention but few of them got a lot of access to national distribution, few of them got attention in The Source or whatever. This is why Esham who is undoubtedly one of the most innovatory rappers stylistically, lyrically... He just never got the exposure! Eminem got on Interscope, he got to be that guy. Major Label Attention or Indies with Major distribution and one or two crossover acts (2 Live Crew become a national news item; Three Six Mafia jump to Priority early in their career; Geto Boys get attention and endorsements from Rick Rubin, No Limit were at first a Bay Area/California label and got to learn the midwest/south/california distribution network mapped by labels like Sic-Wid-It BEFORE moving to New Orleans to dominate that market) is what allows a regional scene to break through beyond their zone.

Dilla's Detroit was essentially based around a bunch of guys who angled themselves after East Coast acts, but there were Detroit rappers who modeled themselves after West Coast acts or Southern acts. MC Breed did the song with Tupac after all; Kid Rock, before the country reinvention was overtly indebted to the real version of Sir Mix-A-Lot from "Posse on Broadway". But OF COURSE the East Coast aspiring rappers always get groomed for success even when they're 8th tier boring backpacker rappers. Hell, the main reason we know about Dilla's Detroit is frankly Dilla went to Q-Tip as an indentured servant for x years and by doing work for the established industry/NYC acts, he THEN was able to get himself and Slum Village major label deals.

Chicago was like this for a long time too, because you have a East Coast centric fave like Common but then acts who lean to southern aesthetics like Do Or Die, Twista, Psychoward, Crucial Conflict... Some of whom were on Major Labels, had big hits in their areas, but couldn't transcend the needs of an industry that was so entrenched in East Coast standards and expectations. Kanye got the chance to grant a lot of his attention back onto Twista and Common. Keef being groomed as a new Next Big Thing on the internet allowed Durk, Reese and King Louie and the industry at large recognized that when... From the internet wise, Lil B and from the greater sort of hype machine, Kanye all cosigned Chief Keef. Now however we have a consistent pre-existing pipeline of rappers from the Chicago area being granted attention in the broader music industry. Who does that for Detroit? Eminem? He only put on his friends (Royce, D12, Obie) Big Sean? Big Sean hasn't put ANYONE ON (I imagine because he's so devoid of personality he can't have friends.)
 
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